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David Hamilton (born April 15, 1933) is a photographer from Britain.

Life and Work

Hamilton grew up in London. His schooling was interrupted by World War II. As a soldier, he spent some time in the lovely countryside of Dorset, which inspired his work till today. After the war, Hamilton returned to London and finished school before moving to France where he has lived ever since.

His artistic skills began to emerge during a job at an architect's office. At age 20, he went to Paris, where he worked as graphic designer for Peter Knapp of ELLE magazine. After becoming known and successful, he was hired away from ELLE by Queen magazine in London as art director. Hamilton soon realized his love for Paris, however, and after returning there became the art director of Printemps, the city's largest department store. Hamilton began photographing commercially while still employed, and the dreamy, grainy style of his images quickly brought him success.

His photographs were in great demand by other magazines such as Realites, Twen and Photo. By the end of the sixties, Hamilton's work had a recognizeable style. His further success included many dozens of photographic books with combined sales well into the millions, five feature films, countless magazine publishings and scores of museum and gallery exhibitions. His soft focus style also came back into fashion at Vogue, ELLE and other high-class fashion magazines from around 2003.

Controversy

As much of Hamilton's work depicts early-teen girls, often in a state of partial disrobe, he has been the subject of some controversy and even child pornography allegations, mostly from North America and Britain, similar to that which the work of Sally Mann and Jock Sturges have attracted. In the late 1990s, American extreem christian conservatives protested bookstores that stocked Hamilton's photography books but their efforts came to nothing. Because of differing attitudes regarding age and nudity, Hamilton has not received this negative attention in his adopted home of France, nor in the rest of the world.

In 2005 a member of the Surrey Police in Britain wrongly claimed that possessing Hamilton books was now illegal in the UK. Surrey Police were later forced to make a formal apology for the incorrect and unsubstantiated allegations made by Detective constable Simon Ledger (see: British Journal of Photography, September 2005), and admitted that no legally binding decision had been made on the work of David Hamilton.

Even so, the porn or art controversy continues however, due to Hamilton's use of Glenn Holland as his spokesman and webmaster. Since it was first created and brought onto the Internet, the website has been run by webmaster Glenn Holland, who was convicted in Australia of sexually assaulting a child in 1988 (as reported by NewsOne), has since been fined for importing child pornography into Australia and in the 1990's was charged but not convicted of at least one other sex crime. In August of 2005 more controversy followed as, Janet McIntyre, of TV New Zealand featured Holland in a NZTV-Sunday report. Soon after, Holland's name was removed from the Hamilton website, even though he was still officially the webmaster.

The Guardian (UK), June 23, 2005, wrote: Hamilton's photographs have long been at the forefront of the "is it art or pornography?" debate. Glenn Holland, spokesman for the 73-year-old photographer, who lives in St Tropez, said: "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by this, as David is one of the most successful art photographers the world has ever known. His books have sold millions".

Books and films

Some of David Hamilton's photograph books are:-

• Dreams of a Young Girl (1971)
• Sisters (1973)
• Souvenirs (1974)
• Twenty-Five Years of an Artist (1993)
• The Age of Innocence (1995)
• A Place In The Sun (1996)
• Holiday Snapshots (1999)

Hamilton's films were:-

• Bilitis (movie) (1977)
• Laura (1979)
• A Summer in St. Tropez (1981)
• Tendres Cousines (1980)
• Premier Desires (1983)

External links

• David Hamilton's official site.
• David Hamilton at IMDb

• English photographers
• 1933 births
• Living people
• Censorship